Take Your Time To Heal

You are calling yourself
worthless and weak again
because you feel like
you are taking too long to heal
too long to be ‘normal’ again
and it makes me ache inside
to watch you tear yourself
down this way.

Because you are neither
worthless nor weak.

What about all the tremendous wars
you have been fighting within yourself
whilst the rest of the world sleeps?

What about the battle cries that echo
in your mind from fighting fearsome demons
made of pain and damage and destruction?

What about all the heartache
you have survived,
that you have pulled yourself through?

You are stronger, stronger
than anyone gives you credit for.
Stronger than even you know.

So your survival is different,
your survival demands more
to heal your pain.

Healing has never been a straight road, love.
It contains the steepest mountains and valleys
and the deepest of oceans.

Repeat after me:

Healing is not horizontal
and I am allowed to take my time.

Healing is not horizontal
and I am allowed to take my time.

Healing is not horizontal
and I am allowed to take my time.

Nikita Gill is a poet and the author of the book Your Soul Is A River.

Your Soul Is A River is available as a physical and electronic book. You can buy it here.